Sail slide



Dec. 20, 1955 R. s. DANFORTH SAIL SLIDE Filed June 17, 1953 INVENTOR. Richard 5. Dan for TTRNEYS A MEMBER 0F THE: F'IQ United States Patent O SAIL SLIDE Richard S. Danforth, Berkeley, Calif., assignor to Danforth Anchors, a corporation of California Application June 17, 1953, Serial No. 362,361 3 Claims. (Cl. 114-108) This invention relates to the attachment of a sail to a sail slide adapted to run along a track secured to a mast or a boom.

To secure the edge of a sail to the mast and to the boom to the end that the sail will adopt the proper air foil section when in use, it is usual to affix a continuous track along the mast and along the boom and to attach slides at closely spaced intervals to the sail, the slides being adapted to run along the track. It is also usual to reinforce the edge of the sail which is attached to the boom or to the mast by running a rope along the edge of the sail and suitably binding the sail about the rope, usually called the bolt rope. Various means of attachment have been utilized to secure the slide to the sail, a commonly used form being that provided by a length of twine passed through a grommet mounted on the raised portion on the slide and through a grommet placed in the sail proper beyond the bolt rope. While other attaching means have been employed heretofore for securing'the slides to the sail, these have generally been unsatisfactory because they permitted or included chang of the sail on the slide or on some portion of the attaching twine, leading to undue wear on the twine and to the necessity of reinforcing the sail against such localized chaing.

In accordance with the present invention, I provide a relatively simple and inexpensive device which can be attached readily to the sail slide and which ts snugly against the edge of the sail and particularly about the bolt rope. It is to be pointed out that the attaching means provided by this invention provide a t between the sail and the slide such that chang of the sail and of the securing twine is obviated for the bolt rope and sail are held securely and cannot rub and chafe against the slide.

It is in general the broad object of the present invention to provide a novel means for attaching a sail slide to a sail.

Another object of the an improved, simple and a sail to a slide.

The invention includes other objects and features of advantage, some of which, together with the foregoing, will appear hereinafter wherein the present preferred form of device of this invention is disclosed.

Referring to the drawing accompanying and forming a part hereof,

Figure l is an enlarged plan view showing the device in place upon a sail.

Figure 2 is a side elevation view partly in cross-section of the device shown in Figure l.

Figure 3 is a plan view partly in section of the device, the view being taken along the line 3 3 in Figure 2.

Referring to the drawing, the sail slide is indicated generally at 6; it is of a usual construction and includes Ka ange 7 on each margin adapted to tit slidably upon a track 8 a'ixed to a mast or boom 9; centrally, the slide includes a raised portion 10 to which the sail 11 is norpresent invention is to provide inexpensive device for attaching 4ables a good purchase to be maily secured as by passing cord through a grommet positioned in the raised portion 10 and through a grommet 13 provided in the sail. The sail usually includes a rope 12 extending along the edge, the sail being folded upon itself as at 14 and secured to provide a double thickness of the sail in which grommet 13 is secured; the edge of the overlapping portion 14 of the sail is sewn to the rope 12 as at 20.

In accordance with this invention, member, generally indicated at 21, a U-shape and having a loop 22 26. The loop 22 is adapted to fit tion 10 on the sail slide 6. Each arm of the member extends outwardly from the central loop 22, an arcuate saddle 23 being mounted and secured between the arms to form a U-shaped receptacle which is of a size to t snugly the bolt rope and edge of the sail, as appears in Figure 2. The outer extremity of each arm of the member has a loop portion 24 formed therein, the length of the respective arms being such that one loop portion is on a level with the lower edge of the grommet aperture while the other loop portion is slightly below the lower edge of the grommet 13 provided in the sail. This enhad on the sail to secure it snugly in the receptacle. A cord 28 is passed between the looped ends 24 and through the grommet 13 to secure the sail snugly in place so that the sail cannot work or chafe in the U-shaped receptacle. In small sails, the grommet is frequently omitted.

From the foregoing, I believe it will be apparent that I have provided a relatively novel, simple and improved form of device for attaching a sail to a slide, one in which the sail is held in a spaced relation to the slide by the saddle 23 so that neither the sail, the twine, or the bolt rope can rub, cut or chafe on the slide. In this connection, it is to be noted that each end of the saddle 23 is arcuately formed and has a smooth curved side or rim 30 whereby chang or cutting of the bolt rope is obviated.

I claim:

1. A device for attaching a sail having bolt-rope secured along an edge of sail with a grommet in the sail adjacent the bolt-rope, the device comprising a member having a central loop portion and a first and a second arm extending therefrom to provide a U-shaped member, a U-shaped saddle extended between said arms and outwardly therefrom and in spaced relation to the central loop portion to provide with the arms a receptacle in which the bolt-rope and attached sail lits snugly, the arms extending upwardly on each side of the bolt-rope to approximately the edge of the grommet, the end of each arm being formed to retain a cord lashing passed through the grommet from one arm-end to the other arm-end to secure the bolt-rope and sail to the device.

2. A device for attaching a sail having a bolt-rope secured along an edge of sail with a grommet in the sail adjacent the bolt-rope, the device comprising a member having a central loop portion and a first and a second arm extending therefrom to provide a U-shaped member, a U-shaped saddle extended between said arms and in spaced relation to the central loop portion to provide with the arms a receptacle in which the bolt-rope and attached sail lits snugly, the arms extending upwardly on each side of the bolt-rope to approximately the edge of the grommet, the rst arm extending beyond the saddle a greater distance than the second arm, the first arm normally resting against the sail and the bolt-rope with the second arm normally resting against only the bolt-rope, the end of each arm being formed to retain a cord lashing passed through the grommet from the first arm-end and over the bolt-rope to the second arm-end to secure the boltrope and sail to the device.

I provide a Wire-like bent centrally into and two arms 25 and about the raised porboth terminal ends of said U-shaped member being bent outwardly to retain a lashing between said terminal ends,

anda U-shaped'saddle`formed-of sheet Astock'extending between and laterally on'each Side of the arms of the U-shaped meinber, 'the bottom of Vthe U-shaped member andthe U-'sha'ped'vsaddle being in spacedfrelationship to forman attachment loop therebetween.v

UNITED STATES PATENTS Hupfel Jan. 9, 1900 Larsen July 6, 1926 Sousa Nov. 22, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Jan. 21, 1928 

